What did you learn today?”

It sounds like a simple question.
A good one, even.

But in a world drowning in content, it’s often the wrong one.

When learning becomes activity, not ability

We live in a time where learning is everywhere.

Courses.
Apps.
Videos.
Playlists.
Daily streaks.

One UK provider claims over 185,000 online courses alone, and that’s before YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, or “just Google it”.

On the surface, it feels like progress.

But more content hasn’t made learning clearer.
It’s made it noisier.

The Duolingo problem (and why it matters)

Duolingo is often held up as the gold standard of digital learning.

And I get why.

It’s beautifully designed.
Highly engaging.
Easy to dip into.

We were one of those households who downloaded it.

My son completed daily tasks. Built streaks. Stayed consistent for 18 months.

And yet…

When it came to actually communicating in French, he struggled.

Not because he didn’t try.
Not because he lacked motivation.

But because the learning had become gamified activity, not usable capability.

He’d learned how to progress in the app, not how to use the language in the real world.

This isn’t a Duolingo issue. It’s a learning design issue.

Duolingo didn’t “fail” my son because it’s bad.

It failed him because it optimised for:

engagement
repetition
completion

Not for:

application
transfer
performance

And this is exactly what happens in businesses too.

When e-learning overwhelms instead of enables

In organisations, I see this all the time:

People complete training, they pass quizzes and they tick boxes.

But when work changes, context shifts and judgement is needed, performance drops.

So we add:

more content
more modules
more refreshers

And still ask:

“Why isn’t training working?”

Because we’re measuring the wrong thing.

The better question to ask

Instead of:

“What did you learn today?”

Try asking:

What can you do now that you couldn’t before?
What decision can you make with more confidence?
What problem can you solve without help?
Where is effort still being lost?

Learning that doesn’t change behaviour isn’t learning.
It’s consumption.

When training isn’t the answer at all

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Sometimes the problem isn’t training.

It might be:

unclear expectations
poor feedback loops
overloaded roles
missing support
broken processes

Throwing more learning at those problems doesn’t fix them.
It hides them.

That’s why performance-led approaches like action mapping start with:

the business problem
the behaviour required
the environment people are working in

Not the course catalogue.

Engagement is not the goal. Performance is.

Gamification can help.
So can great UX.
So can clever design.

But none of them matter if people can’t use what they’ve learned when it counts.

That’s true for language learning.
And it’s true for work.

When Performance & Clarity is the right next step

If your organisation has:

lots of learning activity
decent completion rates
but disappointing performance impact

The problem probably isn’t effort.

It’s clarity.

Performance & Clarity helps you:

identify where learning is being mistaken for progress
separate training needs from performance barriers
stop investing in activity that doesn’t change outcomes

Before you commission another course, or add another platform or you gamify the wrong thing.

Sometimes the most powerful learning move is to stop and ask better questions.

What did you learn today?